Conveyer



Patented Jan. 18, 1944 CONVEYER Alexis W. Lemmon, Columbus, Ohio,assignor to The Jeffrey Manufacturing Company, a corporation of OhioOriginal application April 11, 1940, Serial No. 329,136. Divided andthis application July 26,

1-121, Serial No. 404,107

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a conveyer particularly of the scraper type,and in the preferred embodiment thereof which is disclosed the workingleg of the conveyer is of the totally enclosed type.

One of the objects of the invention is the provision of means in a feedhopper for a conveyer, for relieving the conveyor of the weight of thematerial in the hopper.

More particularly it is the object of the present invention to provide aridged roof in a feed hopper and adjustable mete means associated withthe lower edges of the roof to control the flow of material in thehopper to a conveyer with which the hopper is associated.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, the novelfeatures and combinations being set forth in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawing,

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view with parts shown in section;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view showing mechanism for dischargingthe material at the discharge point;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged side View of one complete I link of a conveyerchain and one of the conveyer flights, in a section of the working legof the conveyer;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of one of the flights showing the chain in sectionand also the working leg of the conveyer;

Fig. 5 is a front view of one of the flights and a part of the conveyerchain and the working leg of the casing which is in section;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view of the drive sprocket 1 taken on the line 56of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Fig. '7 is a sectional view on the line 'l---! of Fig. 1.

This application is a division of my co-pending application, Serial No.329.136, filed April 11, 1940, for an improvement in a Conveyer:

Referring to the accompanying drawing, there is seen in Fig, l a totallyenclosing casin or housing It! formed by a working leg or tube H and areturn leg or tube I2. Ihe casing or housing I is generally L-shaped asillustrated in the drawing, but it is to be understood that it may takevarious shapes.

- At the foot of the casing It there is an adjustable foot sprocket orwheel l3 and at the head thereof is a head sprocket M which is providedwith a series of pair of spaced sprocket teeth l between which the linksI6 of an endless conveyer chain ll travel, said chain l'l forming adraft means of the conveying mechanism and extending between thesprockets l3 and M.

The head sprocket it is driven from a motor It? by chain and sprocketdrive mechanism 19. Material is fed into the feed section of said casingor housing ID by way of openings 20, 2B which permit material to be fedfrom hopper 2| laterally into the path of the conveying mechanism.

A ridged partition or roof 58 in the feed hopper protects the conveyermechanism from the weight of the material in said hopper, therebyreducing the wear on the chain H and casing It. To each sloping side idof ridged roof 48 is adjustably fixed a meting plate 5% adjustable tovary the size of the adjacent feed opening it! to permit a predeterminedVariable amount of material to be fed laterally into the path of theconveying mechanism to each side thereof, as shown by referring to Fig.7.

In the preferred embodiment, I construct the hopper 2! with a verticalpartition 5! extending from the ridged roof 48 to the top of saidhopper, and in conjunction with meting plates 5%; permit differentmaterials to be handled at the same time or at different times. That is,a different material in any desired proportions, may be fed to'each sideof said vertical partition 5!. Of course, similar materials may be fedto both sides of said hopper, but when different materials are fedsimultaneously into opposite sides of the hopper thorough mixturethereof may be obtained by the conveyance and discharge thereof from thedischarge opening 22.

To provide simple means to convey material received at the foot end ofsaid casing or housing it and discharge it to opening 22, which simplemeans also will insure a complete discharging of the material whileeffecting an ehicient movement thereof through the working leg ll ofsaid casing is, I provide flights 23 which preferably substantially fillthe working leg it between the inlet opening 26 forming one extremitythereof and a discharge opening 22 forming the other extremity thereof.The flights 23 consequently act to convey material along the interiorsurface of the working leg ll of the casing ill with the forward orworking face 25 supporting or pushing the material being conveyed as thechain IT moves through the working leg l l in the direction of the arrow25 or, in other words, moves to convey material from the inlet opening 21 toward the discharge opening 22. For many materials the flights 23need not be solid but may be perforated or generally open, but it is adesirable feature to have one or more peripheral edges such a one ormore of the edges 21, 28 and 29 closely adjacent the interior surface ofthe working leg ll so that the material being conveyed cannot freelypass between said peripheral edges 21, 28 or 29, or one or more of themand the adjacent interior surface of the working leg H' of easing l0. 7

The flights 23 while moving in an upward direction, for example, aswhile moving through the upright portion of the working leg II willconvey the material largely independently of the scraping action betweenthe periphery thereof and the interior surface of said leg II, but evenhere there is a certain amount of scraping conveying action by thecooperative'action between the interior surface of said working leg Hand the periphery of each flight 23. It is evident that in theconstruction illustrated the flights;

23 would tend to swing to a non-conveying position under the influenceof the material being conveyed unless mechanism were provided to preventthis.

During the travel of each flight 23 from the inlet opening 2 to thedischarge opening 22, it is of course essential to maintain each flight23 in a material conveying position, but it is desirable to permit it toswing to a non-conveying or material discharge position adjacent thedischarge opening 22, and this action is provided by cooperatingmechanism now to be described.

As clearly illustrated in Figs. 3, and of the drawing, the chain link IL are pivotally attached together by pivot pins 35!. Flights 23 are alsopivoted on each pin 30 or alternate pins 30, as desired, as by means ofa pair of bosses 3!, 3| to which are attached trailin arms 32, 32 havingsliding bearing surfaces 33, which bearing surfaces 33, 33 are adaptedto slide along stationary guide means 34 which maintain the working face25 of each flight 23 substantially at right angles to the direction oftravel of the chain I? though, said face may make either an acute orobtuse angle with respect thereto. In the preferred construction theguide means M is nothing more or less than a portion of the interiorsurface of the working leg of easing it], but if desired wear strips maybe added to form said guide means 3 Adjacent the discharg opening 22,however, the guide means 34 are extended at 35 to provide for theswinging of the flights 23 to material discharging position adjacentsaid discharge opening '22. On the under side of working face 25 offlight 23 is formed an integral lug ll which limits the downward swingof said flight by coming in. contact with a chain link it. It may befurther pointed out that the pivot pins 30 are held in position by meansof an integrally forming lock key 36 which extends into a recess formedin the male member of each link l6, which recess may be aligned withsimilar recesses 38 in the female end of each link It only when adjacentlinks I6 are out of alignment and, for example, are bent to form anangle of substantially 96. Flight bosses 31' are similarly recessed at3&3 to permit free insertion and removal of said pins 30.

It may additionally be pointed out that the head sprocket f ispreferably provided with flanges 39 adapted to receive the trailing arms32 as the chain ll travels around said sprocket M.

In the operation of the device the motor i 8 will drive the conveyorchain ll through the drive mechanism 19 so that the said chain lltravels in the direction of the arrow 28. Material to be conveyed isdelivered by the hopper 2| through the openings 20 and is conveyedrearwardly a short distance by the return run of the conveyor mechanismuntil it drops over the double partition seen at ll formed in thehorizontal section where the material is caught by the working run ofthe conveyer. l1 and moved into the opening 24 of the working leg ortube I I. The material is then conveyed along the horizontal portion ofsaid working leg or tube I l by the flights 23 which are connected atdesired intervals to pivot pins 30.

The flights 23 are maintained in a working or material moving positionin spite of the influence on them by the material which tends to movethem. to a non-working or non-conveying position by virtue of thecooperation between the trailing arms 32 and the stationary guide means34 which in the preferred embodiment are merely interior surfaces of theworking leg H of easing Ill.

During the movement of the material through the vertical or upwardportion of the working leg I i a considerable portion of said materialwill be carried independently of the scraping action between the flights23 and the interior surface of working leg H, but this scraping actionwill still take place to some extent. If the conveyer is entirelyhorizontal no such carrying action will take place. As the materialreaches the discharge opening 22 there will be a natural tendency for itto spill out and this will be appreciably enhanced and madesubstantially complete so as to avoid any appreciable carry-over byvirtue of the extension guide means 35 which permits the flights toassume a non-material carrying position. When handling certain materialthere will be a tendency of the material to cling and not dischargefreely from the working faces 25 of the flights 23 after said flightshave assumed a discharge or non-conveying position. In suchinstallations a flight wiper or scraper 62 will be positioned in thedischarge opening 22 above the point of maximum tilt of flights 23 toscrape the faces thereof and dislodge any adhering material. The scraper42 is U-shaped, and the outer ends of its arms 43 are hingedly orpivc-tally fixed to the casing l0 by thepivot pins or bolts 44. Thecross piece 35, which is the scraper proper, is fixed to or is integralwith the arms 43 and therewith form the U-shaped scraper i2. A stop 46is fixed to each side of casing l8 and projects inwardly a sufficientdistance to limit the pivotal movement of the scraper 42. When the arms33 of scraper 32 are seated on the stops 46 the cross piece 45 is sopositioned as to contact the working faces 25 of flights 23 subsequentto their assuming maximum tilt and as the chain l? with the flights 23move upwardly past the scraper 42, the cross piece 55 by virtue of itscontact with working faces 25 will drag across said faces dislodging anymaterial thereon. The scraper will be lifted from its stops 46, beingrotated on its pivots 44 as each flight 23 moves upwardly past saidscraper which will seat itself on said stops after the passing of eachflight. It will be understood that the wiper or scraper 32 will be usedonly when flights 23 are handling material of an adhering nature. Thewiper or scraper 52 then serves as a brush to wipe or scrape theadhering material from the upper surface of each flight as it passes thedischarging position.

It should be particularly noted that the meting plates 56, 5c areindividually adjustable. Two different materials may be introduced intothe hopper 2 i, one on one-side of the partition 55 and the other on theopposite side thereof. These materials may then be fed laterally towardeach other in desired proportions in accordance with the adjustments ofthe meting plates 50, 50 and the consequent adjustments of the sizes ofthe feed openings 20, 20 under the lower edges of these meting plates.The two difierent materials will drop by gravity over the left-hand endsof the horizontal interior partitions at the position indicated at M inFig.1 into the horizontal run of the working leg I I. This partition 4|is spaced to the right from the sprocket or wheel l3, as shown inFig. 1. Mixture of the materials will continue as they are moved by theflights 23 along the working leg ii and finally the mixture will bedischarged from the opening 22.

It should also be noted that the upper surfaces of the ridged roof 49may be at such angles as to have a definite relation to the angles ofrepose of the materials received in the two compartments of the hopper.These roof surfaces may be parallel to the inclined bottom surfaces ofthe two compartments as shown in Fig. '7. It is evident that sucharrangement of these surfaces may materially relieve the conveyingmechanism of the weights of the materials in the compartments. In otherwords, the angles of the sloping surfaces on the ridged roof 49 and atthe bottoms of the compartments may be sufliciently greater than theangles of repose of the materials to assure flow thereof into the pathsof the flights of the conveyer mechanism but the weights of suchmaterials will be largely sustained by such sloping surfaces, thusrelieving the weight on the upper surface of the upper partition 4|,thereby giving the flights 23 ample freedom of conveying movements.Furthermore, the resulting lateral feeding of material to the return leg12 of casing l prevents material entirely filling the spaces betweensuccessive flights 23. This has a very beneficial result in the closedworking leg or tube i2 in that there is no packing of material betweenflights 23. In prior known devices wherein the material completely fillsthe spaces in the working leg between successive flights, difficultycaused by binding of the compressed material particularly while leavinga curved portion of the casing adjacent an upward stretch, has beenencountered. This difficulty has been overcome in the structureproviding for the lateral feed, namely the rigged roof 48 so positionedas to insure against a direct downward application of pressure ofmaterial in the hopper onto the material in the conveyer, and thelateral feeding of said material thereto.

Obviously those skilled in the art may make various changes in thedetails and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention as defined by the claim hereto appended, and Itherefore wish not to be restricted to the precise construction hereindisclosed.

Having thus described and shown an embodiment of my invention, what Idesire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

In a conveyer, the combination with a casing forming a working legextending from a horizontal portion around a curve to an upwardlyextending portion leading to a discharge opening, of a hopper adjacentsaid horizontal portion communicating therewith by a feed opening,endless conveyer mechanism adapted to travel through said working legand including flights mounted on an endless draft chain, a ridged roofin said hopper positioned with its side edges laterally beyond theflights of said conveyer mechanism and thereby protecting said conveyermechanism against downward pressure of material in said hopper whileproviding for lateral movement of said material. under said roof andthrough side openings into the path of said flights, and means foradjusting the efiective size of each lateral opening and thus adjustingthe extent to which the horizontal portion of said Working leg is filledbetween adjacent flights of said conveyer mechanism.

ALEXIS W. LEMIMON.

